Advent: the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event (according to Google).
Many of our churches, businesses, or even general society use this word to describe not just the coming of Christ, but the coming of Christmas. This “advent” season can mean different things to different people. For many of us it means the four preceding Sundays of Christmas and this time being delegated to prayer and/or fasting for our families or our church. It is supposed to prepare our hearts and minds to focus on Christ within “Christ”mas. Let’s be honest … some of us prepare our hearts better than others, and the world that we live in doesn’t help with this situation either. Take the chaos of normal schedule and throw in trying to get together with families and loved ones, and it often leads to just annoyance and aggravation.
Taking the time out to sit and reflect on why Christmas matters helps us reposition those thoughts and our mindset. Christ—who died for each of our sins—came to us in human form, in the childlike wonder of a baby to live with us, to be raised with a family and to feel all the emotions that we feel.
He came to love, to seek, to find, but most importantly to save. As we take time this season to gather around a tree, Jesus desperately wants us to take time to gather close to Him, to sense His presence, His hope, and our longing to be close to Him.
I find that we do the same preparation for mission trips as wed do for advent. We prepare our hearts, our minds, and even supplies and tools to help focus on Christ and our relationship with Him. We wait expectantly for that plane ride and the time of ministry to impact those for the gospel.
Advent should not just be a season, or time of our life. It should be a mindset. We should be consistently ready to share Christ’s love and word with others. We need to be drawing closer to His word and leaning into the directions which He calls us to go. Our expectancy to see God do something great is not just once a year but should be daily, hourly, minute by minute because our God is a God of immeasurably more (Ephesians 3:20).
My prayer for each of us during this time is that we seek God consistently, searching for His wisdom in every situation that we are in. May we be mindful of His redemption and grace when we stray and His constant and unfailing love.
Merry Christmas!
Elizabeth Barnard
